You really can’t go wrong with pasta. It can be as simple or complex as you want, and you can put just about anything on it. When I want to whip up a pasta dish at home, I always reach for store-bought pasta to save time and avoid the supposed hassle of fresh homemade pasta. The special equipment, the time, the mess — right? WRONG, actually! Thanks to Jeff Mauro’s “Eight-Finger” Cavatelli all Vodka class on the Food Network Kitchen app, I learned how to skip those tedious steps and make the perfect hand-rolled, fresh pasta at home. It’s so much easier than you think.

With only five ingredients, this cavatelli recipe is the simplest way to make homemade pasta, even on a weeknight. I love cavatelli because it has a distinct, firm texture with a ridge down the middle that traps all the delicious flavors of the sauce. According to Jeff, what makes this recipe work so well is the 00 flour that helps create that springy, chewy texture, and semolina flour, which firms it up. (But you can still use all-purpose flour too, of course.)

Jeff’s “eight-finger” method comes into play when you start forming the cavatelli. All you have to do is roll out pieces of the dough into long, rope-like shapes with the four fingers on each of your hands — no need for pasta extruders or automatic rollers! Even if they don’t turn out perfectly, chances are good they’ll still taste great.

Download the Food Network Kitchen app to watch Jeff make this homemade pasta along with a how-to for the perfect vodka sauce to pair with it. He and other chefs have a bunch of on-demand classes when you download the app and sign up today!

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